


Stray Italian Greyhound

by mycahthelittlehobbit



Category: Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: F/M, Fluff, SO MUCH FLUFF
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-09
Updated: 2016-01-09
Packaged: 2018-05-12 20:46:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5680132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mycahthelittlehobbit/pseuds/mycahthelittlehobbit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Anthea finds a new friend in her back garden.  It begins to affect her working relationship with her employer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stray Italian Greyhound

**Author's Note:**

> This was hanging around on my computer for a while and I finally decided to post it in a fit of boredom - enjoy it for the mythea fluff that it is.
> 
> Inspiration for it came from Stay Italian Greyhound by Vienna Teng - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLySk3i4dFI

She hadn’t noticed the animal residing at the back of her town house until a rare Thursday morning she had off. She had been drinking a strong cup of coffee while looking over the back garden when she saw him. The color of clouds just before it snows, thin and sad, the hound had come lurking into her back yard wearily, making his way to where she had a patio set and lying down near one of the chairs. He had no collar, and she hadn’t seen any signs of any missing pets in the area.

Watching the proud creature settle down for what she assumed was most of the day, a bit of a whimsical smile formed. Her employer wouldn’t need her for a few hours this morning; she had a small time window to go run to the store for a few things.

Taking her coffee with, Anthea went to quickly prepare for the day and drive to the local pet store. She was in and out within twenty minutes, home within another ten. The dog noticed her when she came back this time, and did not move when she delivered a bowl of water and another of dry food on her back step. It was time for her to go, so she left the bowls on the stoop for her grey friend to eat while she was away.

When Anthea returned that night, the food was completely gone, and the water depleted by quite a significant amount. The dog was pacing the perimeters of her garden, almost like a sentry. With a smile, Anthea grabbed the bowls from her porch and refilled them for her friend. She turned the lights off in her kitchen and stood still by the window to watch him eat. Anthea was well aware that she should call some sort of shelter about the dog, but she couldn’t bring herself to tattle on the smart creature who had made his way into her back garden.

After a few minutes of quietly sniffing around and watching the house, her hound came up to the bowls and took his fill, leaving a little bit, perhaps in case he did not get more the next day. She would make sure that he was fed, she promised herself and him silently.

Moving away from the window, Anthea made her way upstairs. Tomorrow would be another early day with Mister Mycroft Holmes.

The bowl was empty when she went to fill it the next morning, her sentinel sitting on the side of the garden half obscured by a bush. His eyes tracked her back inside while she filled the bowls and then placed them back down. She made no effort to interact with him in any other way, he was a stray after all. He would come to her when he was ready.

The third day came and went, busy, stressful, and ended early very much to Anthea’s delight. She left the office appropriately in the afternoon, yet very unlike her normal behavior. She missed Mycroft’s strange glance her way as she left the office.

As soon as she entered her town home, she went to the back window to check on the sentinel. That’s what she had begun to call him in her head. Anthea could not help but to smile widely at what she saw when she looked in her back garden. Somewhere he had found a stick and now proceeded to throw it across her meager yard before he went lobbing after it. She watched him for a few minutes grinning at his energy. Pulling out her phone, Anthea took a couple of quick pictures. Who knew how long of a chance she would have with him, might as well take a photo to make the memory last.

A few minutes later, Anthea quietly opened the back door and retrieved the bowls to refill. When she returned, Sentinel was watching her from the edge of the patio, stick in mouth and eyes following her every move. She crouched down holding her hand out with palm up. He slowly approached, setting the stick just outside her reach before backing up and watching her expectantly. Anthea reached for the stick and threw it out into the garden. Sentinel quickly went to retrieve it, returning it to her closer this time and expecting her to retreat the process. A wide smile spread over Anthea’s face as she continued to play with her new friend until it got dark.

He watched her and whined a bit when she stood to go inside, but she assured him in a soft voice that she would see him tomorrow. Perhaps she should get him something to sleep in, a shelter of some kind. A collar and leash as well… No. He was a free dog and she would let him stay that way. With a firm nod, she went up to her room and to bed.

Over the next week Anthea made sure to feed him every morning and every evening, spending time with him when he allowed it. Friday night came and went. Mycroft was out of the country and Anthea had stayed home to keep on top of a few situations. One of them included giving Sentinel a bath if he would let her.

Carefully, she coaxed him inside to the bathroom where she convinced him to get in the tub so that she could give him a warm bath. He whined at her a bit, confused, but waited patiently while she poured the water over him. Soft soothing words poured out of her while she bathed him, petting and nuzzling into his face. She checked for fleas and other signs of his health while her hands were permitted near him.

Once the bath was over, she dried him quickly and fed him a treat, telling him what a good boy he was.

Anthea led him to her room, sitting down beside a large cushion that she had delivered earlier that week. Patting it softly, she motioned for him to come over and lay down. He did, watching her as she pet him. He gave her a gentle huff and licked her hand. Anthea smiled, then stood and asked if he would like dinner. At the mention of food, he perked up and followed her downstairs to the kitchen. Anthea brought the bowls inside and filled them, going to the fridge to get her own dinner to eat with him. It was late so she called into the office to check on a few things before telling them to call if anything came up.

Sentinel and Anthea went up to bed then, both laying down in their perspective beds. She stayed on her side, watching him as he watched her. After a little while, he closed his eyes and settled down. She smiled, and closed her eyes as well.

Their first night inside was calm and easy. There was no way that Sentinel was simply a stray dog. He was very well behaved, mostly clean from flees, and stayed in his bed until she got up in the morning. Getting dressed in her running clothes, Anthea had him follow her outside where she started trotting down the sidewalk, looking back at him to follow her. Sentinel followed with ease, seemingly pleased to be running beside her. They both enjoy the quiet comradery that had grown over the past few days.

Anthea fed him once they returned home, and she went upstairs to take a shower while leaving him in the kitchen. He needed to see that Anthea trusted him, and have a chance to explore his new home. Bathed and clothed, she messaged into the office to check on Mr. Holmes, and see if she needed to go in to do anything, or if she could work from home. Home it was.

It was a lovely day, so she chose to take her work outside and spend time out of doors with Sentinel.

That was where Mycroft Holmes found her a few hours later.

She heard the knock from the back garden and went inside; Sentinel closely followed her to the front door. He had just made a friend, he was not about to lose her.

Anthea answered the door, not thinking much about the loose shirt she wore nor her bare feet until she saw who was on her stoop.

“Mr. Holmes, what are you doing here?”

He looked stunned, a bit put out as well, to see her in cloths other than her prim suits or dresses.

“You weren’t in the office,” he stated by way of explanation. And she understood. Anthea was always in the office when he returned from a trip so he could debrief. She glanced down at Sentinel and realized that he was pulling her out of work and more into having her own life. She hadn’t thought twice about not being there for her employer.

“I would have thought that it was late and you’d like to go home and debrief in the morning,” she hadn’t thought that at all.

“We always meet at the office,” he looked quite put out, hands pushed into his coat pocket as he stood on her front stoop.

“I will make sure to make clear plans next time,” she gestured for him to come inside.

They watched one another in silence after she’d closed the door. Anthea hadn’t been aware that he felt this way. She hadn’t been aware that she felt this way until he’d shown up on her doorstep. The silence was not broken until sentinel made himself noticeable to them.

“And who is this? I was not aware that you had a hound,” he said lightly, watching the well behaved shadow at her side.

“We adopted each other,” she said by way of explanation, “We can go over your trip here and I’m sure that you could use a cup of tea, if not something to eat.”

“It can wait until tomorrow,” Mycroft almost looked shy.

“You didn’t think that five minutes ago,” she scolded lightly, “come in, I’ll at least put the kettle on.”

He stepped further into her home carefully, eyeing Sentinel while following her to the kitchen. She put her kettle on and went out to the patio to bring her work inside.

“You have a lovely home,” he commented when she came back.

“It’s a nice space to come to home to when I leave the office,” she nodded with a slight smile. Would she be here more? Now that she had Sentinel?

“Your dog seems quite attached to you,” he nodded to Sentinel who was still at her side.

“He was living in my back garden, and we decided that he could stay as long as he liked,” she shrugged and brought down two mugs and pulled out two packets of tea for them.

“You’ve adopted a stray,” he deadpanned.

“No, he is too well behaved. I’ve been keeping my eye out for posters, but he can stay as long as he’d like,” she explained, giving him a stern half glance.

“But when will you have the time to spend with him?” _he’s taking you from me_.

“I’ve been making time for him,” _I need to live my life_ , “Leaving the office at a decent hour, taking work home,” _I don’t know what you want from me_.

“What happens if you’re gone for some time on a trip?”

“I’ll hire someone,” he’s a dog, not a child. Anthea could leave him for a while as long as she sent someone to feed him.

Mycroft nodded. He couldn’t say anything else on the topic without embarrassing himself. He would rather her be by his side, rather than allowing for the dog to be at hers.

“So your trip?” she asked, turning around to prepare their cups again.

“Went as suspected,” he paused, “I’ve never seen you drink tea around me. You usually take coffee.”

“We all have our surprises. They gave you want you wanted in the negotiations?”

“Of course,” _I always get what I want_ , “Just a bit of talking and suddenly they were offering me anything that I wanted,” _but you, you hold out on me_.

“That method seems to work well for our work,” _it will not work on me_.

“That it does,” _help me win you_.

“Would you like something to eat? I can order something in for dinner,” _if you’re trying to win me, you will always lose_.

“I should really go, we can do this on Monday,” they stood, Sentinel looking between the two people. These humans were quite attached, yet his human would not go to her human. Her finger tips were pressed onto the table near where the man had been, the man stopped when she had said his name. They were both extremely stiff, uncertain, scared.

“Why did you come?” her voice was soft.

“I already told you, I was checking on you and thought that we should go over my trip.”

“No, that’s what you said, not your reason,” he turned and looked at her, holding his breath.

“It wasn’t coming home properly without seeing you.”

“Then don’t leave,” she didn’t move, but her eyes were pleading. How had they come to this? Yesterday they had been Anthea and Mr. Holmes, the two who stood apart from everyone, including one another. Now they stared at each other from across her kitchen table, waiting for the other to break.

Mycroft took a step around the table and suddenly she was in his arms and they were clinging to one another, her toes barely on the floor as Mycroft crushed her to him.

Neither said a word, the silence between them speaking enough for the both of them. His breathing was ragged, but evened out when she started running her fingers through his hair.

“I had no idea Mycroft, I am so sorry,” she murmured.

“You weren’t to know. I am not exactly the most outwardly affectionate people,” his voice was a bit rough.

“Neither am I,” she paused, “We’ll work it out though.”

His only response was to hold her back in appreciation, thank you, his eyes said, Anything for you, her fingers repeatedly told him as they stroked through his hair and down the back of his neck.

Mycroft finally pulled his face away from her shoulder and loosed his grip on her enough so she could stand properly, “May I kiss you?” always the formal one. She couldn’t say anything, so all she did was nod and lean up into him. He met her in the middle, pressing into her mouth softly, with the lack of emergency that one has when they know that they have forever with their partner.

The sun shone lazily through the kitchen window onto the wooden floor. Sentinel sat and watched his human with her human, and was quite pleased with his new home.


End file.
